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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 16, 2002

Getting to work with words

Installations by Suzumi Noda that integrate everyday words into the fabric of everyday items are on show till Feb. 12 at Tepco Art Gallery in Ginza.
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2002

Nakatani's dad's firm probed

Tax authorities investigated a construction firm run by the father of Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani in connection with an alleged tax evasion case involving a secretary of former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Koichi Kato, sources close to the case said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2002

Rigging bids allegedly earned Kato secretary millions

Saburo Sato, a 61-year-old secretary to Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, accepted money from construction firms for approving their bids for public works projects in Yamagata Prefecture, sources close to the case said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 13, 2002

Reassessing Kurosawa's neglected masterpiece

SEVEN SAMURAI: The Film by Akira Kurosawa, by Joan Mellen. London: British Film Institute, 2002, 96 pp., with many b/w photos, 8.99 British pounds (paper) The National Film Theater in London is currently presenting a two-month-long festival featuring the works of Akira Kurosawa. A number of other events...
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2002

Japan's economic black hole

Realism is finally impinging on the economic debate here. The "structural reform" ideologues may remain blind to the contradiction between urging privatization and liberalization even as they are being forced effectively to nationalize a banking system suffering from past liberalization excesses. But...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2002

Behind the scenes with Phnom Penh's 'orange girls'

PHNOM PENH -- In central Phnom Penh, at one end of a semiderelict building, is a tiny lean-to shack. Its walls are made of scavenged wood planks and its roof of corrugated iron. The ground around it is a swamp of sewage and mud due to the daily monsoon rains. To get to the shack, you have to hop along...
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2002

Dads take child-care leave at own risk

Minoru Omoishi, 35, took three months' leave in 1999 to care for his newborn triplets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2002

Bad times spark new breed of lottery fan

Masao Kitasawa, 58, is a lottery fan. He buys about 10 lottery tickets a week, spending roughly 10,000 yen a month to "dream a little."
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2001

Reform budget a double-edged sword

The Finance Ministry's draft general-account budget, which was unveiled Thursday, is the first under the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Living up to his "fiscal reform" slogan, he has kept his pledge to cap bond issuance at 30 trillion yen. The borrowing limit, however, is a "double-edged...
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2001

Pediatrics strained to breaking point

It was just after midnight one recent weekend in the emergency room of Showa University Hospital in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. Pediatrician Katsura Sugihara was treating his 12th patient of the night, when the phone rang.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 19, 2001

How-to secrets of Japan's greatest artistic export

First of two parts There can be few readers of The Japan Times who have not browsed a secondhand bookshop in Japan, hoping to discover an unrecognized gem of a woodblock print. Although the subjects they depict are far removed from the reality of contemporary Japan, ukiyo-e still charm us today. Western...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 12, 2001

Kyogen with a twist

KYOTO -- What do kyogen, noh, nihon buyo, the works of Samuel Beckett, W.B. Yeats and Woody Allen have in common?
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2001

Cabinet approves budget plan modified to please coalition

The Cabinet has endorsed guidelines for the fiscal 2002 budget, in which a 30 trillion yen cap on new government bonds for that year forms the centerpiece of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reforms.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2001

Not fade away

Ka-chan Rating: * * * Director: Kon Ichikawa Running time: 96 minutes Language: Japaneese
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2001

Management buyouts find favor as restructuring tool

Management buyouts, a form of corporate acquisition in which management teams invest in the acquisition financing, have exceeded 100 billion yen so far this year, eclipsing the record of 40 billion yen set in 2000.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 2, 2001

Restaurant J: Food that gladdens the heart of man

Restaurant J has been open for more than a year, so there's absolutely no reason for the Food File to wait any longer to bestow its seal of approval. But we're still reluctant to give it the unconditional thumbs-up it so richly deserves. Why so? It's the same old story: We're always loath to spread the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 21, 2001

Beauty of body and spirit

It was an extraordinary sight. Guests at the Canadian Embassy Gallery's opening party for artist Claude Descoteaux could not keep their hands off the exhibits. Here, a young woman slid her hand over gleaming bronze hips. There, a man shyly stroked the calf of a leaping, athletic male.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 21, 2001

It's bewildering and bewitching

Someone should tell Karen Kilimnik that when she changes the date of birth on her resume, she should also tweak the other dates listed there, lest she end up appearing to have graduated from university at age 14. This is the case with the bio provided by Gallery Side 2, where the enigmatic painter and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 21, 2001

Dagmar Krause

Dagmar Krause has the thin, consumptive look of a cabaret singer, as if she is about to expire at any moment from want of a man, money or the simple pleasures of a hot meal.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2001

Pitfalls litter Koizumi reform path

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi needs to place a bit more emphasis on growth-oriented economic policy if he wants to maximize the effect of his structural reform measures, British economic journalists said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 18, 2001

Judgment day falls on celebrity panelists

On Nov. 9, one of the long-discussed judicial reform laws was finally enacted. Next month a committee task force will be set up under the Cabinet to discuss its implementation. How should committee members start such a huge, long overdue task?
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2001

FILMeX kicks off Sunday

Tokyo's alternative film festival, Tokyo FILMeX, returns for its sophomore year with a lineup of Asian cinema as solid as that shown at its debut. With six special screenings, 10 films in competition and two hefty retrospectives, FILMeX has a lot to offer Asian film buffs, and -- as many readers will...
COMMENTARY
Nov 13, 2001

Japan must make the grade

In the last decade of the 20th century, Japan lost many of the tangible and intangible assets it had built up since World War II. In particular, there was a serious deterioration in the quality of human resources. The second half of the 1990s saw a sharp decline in university students' scholastic performance...
COMMUNITY
Nov 4, 2001

Life in the fastest lane of all

On the afternoon of Oct. 21, Daijiro Kato screeched across the finish line on his 250cc Honda to win the Malaysian Grand Prix -- and with it his first World Motorcycle Road Racing Champion's crown.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2001

Backward and forward

Director Christopher Nolan's "Memento" has turned out to be the runaway indie hit of 2001, so the local press were out in force for his press conference. It's not every day that a talent blindsides viewers with such an accomplished and innovative work. In person, Nolan seemed a bit dry for someone who...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 31, 2001

Talent on show and love for sale

LONDON -- I am sitting upright in a corner; a 2-meter length of gray, vinyl piping protrudes from each of my ears, extending horizontally along the wall on both sides of my head.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2001

TIFF take 14

Japan has one of the largest film markets in the world. Accordingly, every year the Tokyo International Film Festival serves up world cinema on a grand scale, screening more than 140 films over the course of a week.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2001

Tales from the dark side of Soderbergh

Schizopolis / Gray's Anatomy Rating: * * * / * * * * Director: Steven Soderbergh Running time: 93 minutes / 79 minutes Language: English Now showing
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2001

A small bite of the Big Apple

For a sampler of art from New York, check out Nihonbashi's Onward Gallery.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2001

Life's odd journey and the wonder of Y

With the press conference and vernissage just hours away, workers were hurriedly making final adjustments to the Hara Museum's big new Tadanori Yokoo show when one of them turned to me and said, "You know, many curators were trying for this exhibition." At least that's what I thought she said. As Yokoo,...

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